Sunday from hell in the Australian state of New South Wales

Imagine you wake up to a day that will have temperatures in the 40o C and that is only in the morning. The smell of smoke is everywhere as 80+ fires roll across the state, the largest one with a 200km front, 2000 firefighters are on the ground trying to control the fires that have the greatest potential to cause damage to property or threaten lives.

That is what the Fire Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons confronted on Sunday morning the 12 Feb. Australia has a Fire rating system to indicate to the public how dangerous the day will become; the range is moderate-high-very high-severe-extreme and CATASTROPHIC, not very often is the catastrophic alarm sounded but Sunday was one of them. The Commissioner was blunt enough to tell the public that if they are caught out in a fire in this weather “you will die”

Thankfully at the end of the day from hell, no one had been killed, many farms, sheds and houses were lost along with crops and livestock. Unfortunately, the tiny hamlet of Uarby was all but wiped out. The attached article give you a good overview of what went on Sunday. Well-done firefighters.

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